Are Java 8 and Java 1.8.x the same things?

December 29, 2016

The short answer is YES. It may sound strange, but after 20 years from initial release Java is still version 1.x. Just because it was designed well.
Java apps written for Java 1.0 could be run in every Java Virtual Machine (JVM) version starting from 1.0 to 1.8. Java code is forward compatible. As for backward compatibility, sometimes Java code could be compiled with older version of Java, but it is not guaranteed. Perhaps the most innovative release was Java 1.5. Most probably you will not be able to compile Java app written for Java 1.5 using Java 1.4 or any older one. That’s why this release is also known as Java 5. Same is true about Java 8.